He put it on right away and declared that he loved it, because he's that kind of a sweet guy. But it was a tad long. So I took out the row I'd added, then tried it on him. Still not quite right. A little too blue like the sky, green like trees.So I took out three rows and added a brim in charcoal. Better. But a bit large. I decided to felt it a bit.

This is the Hiking Hat, pre-felting:

This is it, after felting:

Not quite a Hiking Hat anymore, eh? It's more like a Tea Party Hat. The brim yarn and the crown yarn felted differently, so the brim swerves outward. The whole effect is more like a cloche than a hat suitable for a he-man in the woods.

I think this is a great hat—for someone else.

Fortunately, I have a hat stash. I dove in and found a good manly-man hat:

This Hiking Hat is a variation of the Tahoe Hat from Interweave Crochet Fall 2009 issue. The top of the hat is worked liked the Tahoe Hat. The body is worked separately, sideways in linked crochet, then joined to the top. The brim is a row of double crochet in gray, a row of red single crochet, then a row of dark charcoal reverse single crochet.